Faded
by Lacewing
Summary: Gill is a skeleton born into a world after the monsters escaped the sealed underworld. He didn't realize that finding an injured human was going to end up changing his life.
1. Chapter 1

Faded

By Lacewing

Disclaimers apply, undertale belongs to other people, I'm just playing with characters. Ocs are mine and Gill is based upon the Gaster!sans artwork I keep seeing.

-0-

She sat on the ground, back to the wall and said nothing as people passed her by. No one seeming to notice her, even as she held her side, feeling the trickle of blood.

No one noticed, she was invisible, or might as well be. No one saw her. No one cared.

By morning she would just be another problem for some clean up crew.

"hey…" a voice said and she felt someone kick a bit at her leg. Great, someone likely to tell her to move or stop messing up the streets, who cares that she was bleeding out and likely dying.

She was a smelly eyesore to them. Not a person.

Then the figure squatted down "You aren't looking all that good bud- oh shit."

She blinked up, everything was fuzzy and hardly anything came into clear focus. But the face was clearing, one that seemed to be filled with honest concern.

Impressive to say for what was effetely a skull. And one dressed in leather at that.

Of all the things she expected to see at the end like this, one of the monster races was not it.

She felt a slight tug at her lips, before sagging into unconsciousness.

"Crap crap crap!" Gill Sans caught the homeless human. He hadn't been sure what made him look down that moment as he was going about his day, but when he saw the homeless figure he paused. He never understood the humans and how they could ignore someone in need. Monsters would never do that with their own kind, if someone was down on their luck, well it was just cheaper and easier to get them help.

There was something off about this human though, so when he tried to get their attention they had not responded at all, so he'd just tapped their leg with his foot.

A bit of a response but one that struck something inside him as.. wrong.

When he knelt down he noticed that the human was of one of those darker complexions some came in, with the really cool looking sheep like hair.

But this one wasn't looking so dark, in fact they looked downright ashen.

The sent of old blood drew his attention downwards, which was how he ended up with a homeless person in a fireman's carry as he used a touch of magic to give a boost to his feet. Rushing down the streets as he could feel the slowly fading heartbeat against his bones.

"Hang on buddy, just a little longer." He said. There was a hostpital nearby and that was the ER he was running for, once he got there he didn't bother going for the doors of general admittance, instead heading for the doors where the ambulenses went for.

"Wait, you can't come in thi-" the security guard stopped and had sense when a golden eyed skeleton came rushing into the ER with a human to back off and get a nurse instead.

The nurse was a young man behind the desk who rushed around "What is going on?"

"Found the kid not far, looks like a stab wound, and they are still bleeding out." Gill said "I've been using my power to keep them from bleeding out but they are going to need way more than that."

The nurse seemed to have had at least a little interaction with monsters enough to take the words about magic at face value and had a gurney brought over. Grabbing a passing Dr, who was a pretty little thing Gill decided. A tiny woman who gave the nurse a single look that had the other man backing off before explaining, before he was halfway through the Doctor was at the gurney side and peeling away the layers of coats and shirts.

"This is messy," she said and they were pushing the gurney down the hall calling for emergency surgery. No one noticed at first the golden eyed Skeleton who was sticking close. His boney hand holding the bar on the other side and helping to push the gurney.

One of the nurse noticed "We can't have you going into surgery Sir."

"I don't plan on it, I'm just keeping them from bleeding out." He said blandly and looked up in away he knew tended to make humans back off.

This fellow was made of sterner stuff "Sir. "

Gill sighed and shook his head "Look just to the door, I won't go in and I won't be in anyones way. I'm just using my power to give this kid a few more minutes and hopefully you lot can do more than I can."

The nurse paused and looked at the doctor who shrugged "Once in surgery just take him to the waiting rooms." She said not wanting to argue. Everyone could see the faint glow around the wound, and right now arguing would lose precious moments.

As promised Gill released his hold and stood by the door for a new moments, he could see past the swinging doorway as they started removing more clothing.

He held his power a few more moments before sagging back against the opposing wall. "Come on, I'll show you the waiting room."

"Actually, the cafeteria would be better." He said rubbing his face, and having to mentally force himself not to go for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He could get a smoke later, for now he needed fuel.

The human blinked looking him up and down "… how?"

He chuckled and wiggled his fingers at the human "magic" he intoned humorously, "its fuel" he said "I just process it differently than you guys do. Don't think too hard about it."

The nurse just shook his head "Well this way then." And he took him to the cafeteria and gave him verbal directions as well to the waiting room.

Gill found it amusing that the hospital just assumed he was responsible for the human, at least no one was assuming he was the one that stabbed them.

He bought himself an apple, some chips and a soda sitting in a corner to munch. He amused himself with the wide eyes of a child who was trying to figure out how he was able to swallow and nothing seen. Well not that skeletons were common, and they definitely had the weirdest physiology out of most the monsters.

Speaking of the rarity, he sighed fishing out the phone from his jacket pocket, he wiggled it as the kid who'd been watching him eat covered his mouth as Gill's phone made the most spectacular fart noises. Flipping it open he leaned back.

"Yo." He greeted, "Gill Sans' funeral home, you stab 'em we'll bag 'em"

"Gill, that is not the proper way of answering your phone!" the familiar voice said and Gill just grinned wider, he loved tormenting his uncle.

"Hey Paps" he said instead not saying anything about how he answered his phone. He figured he warned people enough that they wouldn't bother calling and stick to text as being safer.

He heard the gusty sigh on the other end, Papyrus was most likely rolling his eyes "Dinner was an hour ago, you said you were coming over."

Oops, he forgot about that, "Sorry about that, something came up and now I'm at the hospital."

"WHAT!" Gill barely managed to get the phone a bit further from his head to save his hearing as the decimals had to have gone into ear bleeding in humans of his uncle's screech.

"Chill, I found a human along the side of the road, they were hurt pretty bad, so I brought them here. I'm just grabbing a bite to eat and likely going to scram." He admitted, he done all he could after this well, it wasn't his problem.

There was silence "You aren't going to see it through then?" Papyrus asked him.

Gill felt himself sagging with annoyance. "What do you expect me to do?" he demanded "I brought them to people that can help, it's not my problem."

"What about notifying their family? I'm sure there are going to be people worried about them."

Gill sagged further "…. I doubt it." He admitted.

He could hear his uncle's confusion and sighed "Look, I'm pretty sure the human is homeless, and where they were at, I don't think they have many friends. Else someone else likely would have brought them here. I found them only a few blocks away, they were likely heading here themselves."

Papyrus was silent. And Gill knew he was being judged, "Fffffff" he started and pulled up his hood to cover his face and the likely annoyed glow in his eyes. He was barely restraining himself from a full on curse fest at his uncle. It wouldn't go any good and just get him chastised more. Seriously he was a grown skeleton! Not a child anymore. "What do you want me to do! I saved the human, there ain't anything else I can do, it's a human thing. I mean not like they are a monster, I can't just take them to one of our towns…"

"Why not?" his uncle interrupted.

"Well there is that stupid human monster interaction treaty bullshit for one!"

"Language"

"Oh fuck me! Seriously? You expect me to risk the whole human monster treaty over a single homeless human?"

"But you made yourself their keeper when you chose to get involved."

Gill stared down, the core of the apple in his bone fingers and after a long moment he threw it in his mouth chewing thoughtfully. "I couldn't just leave them bleeding out like that. No one else was doing anything." He defended himself.

"heh, I know, which hospital are you at then? I shall arrive with needed documents for the human to move into the reservation."

Gill laughed a bit and sagged enough to rest his head on the back of the booth seat he was seated on, "You are not going to let this one go are you?"

"Nope!" his uncle said cheerfully.

"Fine." And he rattled off the information "I don't have anything on the human, they weren't exactly speaking when I found them."

"That's alright, we'll take care of the details when they recover!"

"They might not want to come with us." He warned.

"If is our responsibility to at least make the offer."

Gill gave a long gusty breath, losing most the air likely through his rib cage, a bad habit of his really. "Right. Well, we'll see if they even survive," it hadn't sounded good earlier. He twisted off the bottle cap of his soda and took a drink.

"I have faith that they will be just fine." Papyrus said and before Gill could hang up on him in irritation he continued "Gill? Sans would be proud of you."

"yeah…" and he disconnected closing the phone and putting it away.

He pocketed his chips and headed for the door. If he was going to be stuck here he could at least get his damn smoke!

Fucking uncle being right…

-0-

She woke up in a hospital bed. So many wires and tubes, it weighed her down, but slowly she sat up. Wincing in pain as he touched her side.

Last she remembered was being robbed for the tiny bit of money she had plans on getting a room for a night, to wash and clean her clothing. Perhaps she could even have a meal.

To make another try for the hiring lines in hopes of getting a job, getting back on her feet and off the streets.

Before some of the more unpleasant offers she kept being told a girl like her could take sounded tempting.

Or more tempting the long fall and sudden stop off the bridge over the river.

"Move about too much and the stitches might not hold. They had to replace a lot of blood in you, buddy." She started not realizing there was a form in the room with her.

She saw the fellow seated in the window with a hood pulled over his face, all she could see was a touch of a skeleton grin.

As he pushed back his hood though she saw a, well living skeleton. One of the monsters, vague memories of a concerned face.

"You, brought me here?"

"Yep, that would be me, Gill Sans." He responded with a bit of a mock bow. "so, may I get the name of the person I rescued?"

She clutched the blankets and felt her throat go dry, well, this was nothing she was expecting at all. "Cayden Rogers" she said after a moment.

"Cayden" he repeated "Nice name" and he sat back down in the window and sighed "So, do.. you have anywhere to go?" he asked her.

She was watching him mistrustfully.

He quickly held up a hand "Its nothing weird!" he hastily promised "Look, we have a sort of thing among us monsters that make you, well responsible for a life you save. Until you are sure they are you know, not in need of saving and all that." He looked like he found this about as embarrassing to say out loud as lame as it sounded.

"… ok?" she still had no idea what he was talking about.

He sighed "Fuck, I just suck at this sort of stuff, give me something to punch and it's easier. Look, basically I'm ready to offer you a place to stay and a chance to get on your feet, you know, find a job and such."

Cayden blinked and stared down at the hospital gown, a home? She looked up at his suspiciously "This isn't going to be like, a trap? You make a good offer and it turns out to be some weird bordello or something?"

"Wha- Oh fuck no!" he said holding up his boney hands. "Seriously, my Uncle will be here soon with the papers. You can look them over, it's all very legit," he promised her.

She was watching him suspiciously and he was trying very hard to be nonchalant, keep a cool air.

"… skeletons sweat?" she asked.

"Wh- no, er.. yes, but um.. fuck." And he just sagged down pulling his hood over his face as Cayden started laughing. Which made her side ache, so she laid back down. Several firsts, and not what she was expecting at all when she got that bit of money earlier today.

A skeleton could blush, that was pretty awesome. "Didn't know there were skeletons" she said finally, she'd seen a few monsters, most looked like fish or lizards or guys with flaming heads.

"yeah, there, aren't many of us." He shrugged "Far as I know, just me and my Uncle."

"huh" Cayden wanted to ask more but the way he was not making eye contact made her wary and she decided instead to just lay there staring at him.

He eventually turned to look at her and then seemed to cock a brow, eye ridge? What do you call it when he seemed to move the bone of his face to make an expression?

Monsters were weird.

He suddenly snorted "Pff" he shook his head "You are fucking high aren't you?"

She blinked, was that why she felt more like smiling randomly? She hurt but it didn't seem to quite reach her head, unless she moved too fast, breathed too deep, or well did pretty much anything besides lay there and stare at the pretty colors.

Suddenly there was a loud fart from his direction and she just blinked owlishly at him until he brought out a phone and when he answered it the noise stopped.

She started giggling madly, seriously she was not one for bodily humor but that was too damn good. A skeleton farting.

He rolled his eyes and stepped out of the room and the giggling human.

"Yo uncle." He said.

"How do you always know its me?" papyrus demanded "I can never figure that out."

He snorted "Because I have caller ID and personalized the ring tone so that I know its your phone."

"Wowy! That's really cool, you should show me how to do that."

"Sure, so take it you're outside?"

"Yes, is the human still alive?"

"Yep, and currently I think in no real frame of mind to be making decisions for herself. They have her pretty hopped up on medicine." He leaned against the wall and watched the nurses scuttle about the nurses' station down the hall.

"When I get there I can at least look at this human. Perhaps there will be something I can do to help."

"You were always better at the healing stuff."

"You just need to want to do it Gill."

Gill sighed and rubbed the back of his skull, always it was what Paps told him, but he never really got it. Maybe it was why that sort of magic didn't come easy? Likely he just didn't have the personality for it. Take too much after the wrong parent or something. He didn't know "Anyway, where you at? I'll come get you rather than try and direct you through this maze."

"Oh you don't have to! I am good with puzzles!"

"Paps, puzzles have logic, this place don't. I'll come get you."

"Oh very well."

Gill poked his head back in and saw that the human had fallen asleep again, so he trotted off to get to his Uncle before the other older skeleton decided to do something stupid, like get chummy with the locals or offer cookies.

-0-

Gill was watching his uncle, who had pulled a chair up next to the human's bed and was seated there holding her hand in his own boney ones. Gill just sat back on the window sill his feet pulled up and holding his ankles. It wasn't often that his uncle pulled on his magic this way, but it was always interesting to watch. Everything about his uncle was just so big. Personality, voice, presence. He never did anything by halves.

He gave everything of himself when he did anything. Maybe in a way that was why Gill couldn't do some of the things Papyrus could? He never could give of himself, not like that. No matter how he wanted to.

He just couldn't bring himself to trust that much.

He blinked suddenly as he felt his eyes flash in some sort of response and his uncle let go of the girl's hand with a yelp.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I'm not sure, but I think.. The human must have magic as well and it responded to mine."

"A human with magic?" Gill perked up, the history books once said humans had magics, they had even formed the barrier that trapped monsters below ground for hundreds of years until the child Frisk came.

And had in the end set them all free.

Monsters came once more to the surface and treaties were slowly built, life was adjusted and a new sort of normal was made. Monsters still ended up staying separate from humans for the most part. Traveling in among human cities and such now and then but always returning to their reservations.

But now there was a whole new generation who never lived below ground. Children like Gill who was use to being among people, even if the stares were a little annoying at times.

Yet during all this time, monsters had magic

Humans did not.

They had other things, like determination, stubbornness more like.

"It would very much appear that this human has magic of some sort, it reacted towards mind, and not very favorably" his uncle rubbed his hands before pulling on his gloves "I dare not try anything more for the moment, but she should be well on the mend and no longer in need of those human drugs." He looked at his nephew, "So when she wakes again we should have better luck in explaining things to her."

Gill nodded "There isn't much in here to sit on or do, the waiting room has some games, a working television. Snack machines." He offered.

Papyrus shook his head "We should stay here, so the human won't wake up alone. No one should feel alone." He said softly.

Gill reached up and tapped his teeth, feeling himself sag a bit. He knew that his uncle missed his brother, Gill's father very much. Papyrus glanced back at Gill and stood up going over and hugging the younger skeleton "Its not your fault." He told him. "I would never trade a single moment from you for anything in the world." He had been telling Gill this and sometimes Gill believed him, sometimes he didn't, but he was usually comforted.

He rested his forehead against his uncle's chest and sighed "I kind of wish there were others like us." He said softly, "there aren't ever likely to be more skeletons."

"Don't say that, there is always a chance. And besides Alphys' next project may just work."

"Better than last time?"

Papyrus just sighed and hugged Gill's head until the younger skeleton was struggling to flee his hold and he chuckled at him. "Language" he responded to the muffled indignities coming from his nephew.

He did eventually let him free and glanced back at the human, before taking a chair. Gill sighed figuring that this was all he was getting from his uncle. Papyrus did not care to dwell too much on past things. What happened had happened and they could only move forward, as a family.

Gill though wished he could get someone to talk to him about what happened.

When he was born.

All he knew was that his father, Sans, had gotten hurt during an attack on the Ambassador Frisk, bad enough they were worried he would be dusted. The former lead scientist Alphys had attempted something to try and save his life.

It resulted in Gill instead.

No one was sure what to do or try so Papyrus had taken Gill and settled to raise him. Sans' tragic death had at least also done good for finally pushing for monster protections, giving them more time to settle and for humans to become accustomed.

Now while there were still problems, and still issues, Gill could go wandering a human city with little issue and bring in an injured human he found without being assumed that he must have done something to have caused it. There were monster documentaries and even mixed schools of monsters and human children.

With the underground freed they had actually found that their little mountain had not been the only sealed place and other groups had been freed over the years. So there were more monsters and they were a growing population.

But, no more skeletons. It seemed that they were a truly endangered race.

Alphys last Gill heard was working on seeing if there were ways of bringing back the lost ones.

So far there were no successes, unless one counted Gill, but he rather doubted it was a success when his father died for him to be born. He let out another slightly frustrated gust of air through his ribs and got a dirty look from Papyrus.

So he did it again just to be annoying. "OMG Gill! Do stop that before you hurt yourself."

He stood up and fished out his pack of cigarettes "I'm going out for a smoke."

"You really should stop that disgusting habit! It's bad for you"

"I would figure you have to have lungs first for it to be bad." He retorted with humor.

Papyrus threw up his hands in the air in a way that told Gill he won the argument for now and the happy younger skeleton strolled out to the smoking area and leaning against the wall he lit up his smoke and inhaled, letting the smoke fill and waif out through his skull. It calmed him, if anything the steady motion of it. The warm feeling and the slightly tickling sensation.

It was calming and when he was agitated or stressed it made those feelings go away for a little while.

He felt a little less useless and a little less of a mistake.

Now though he had so much more to think about. The new responsibility if the human decided to go with them, he barely took care of himself how was he to take care of a human? At least she looked to be adult, so not like he was suddenly stuck with a child. Now suddenly the human might have magic, what was he to do then? Teach them? He was fucking useless at that! Most he could manage was a few creative ways to kill something. He knew next to nothing of any of the other magics.

He took another drag and sank down against the wall and stared at the sky "just... fuck."

-0-

Cayden stared up at the ceiling. Despite agreeing to this she had honestly been afraid she was walking into a trap.

Now she knew a week into this new arrangement that she moved in with a science nerd who pretended to be a tough guy and a huge friendly dork who liked to cook and clean.

She lifted her legs as Papyrus ran the vacuum between the couch and the coffee table. Then put her feet back down on the table. Papyrus was a bit of a stickler for a lot of things but at least he didn't seem to mind her resting stocking feet on the coffee table. Just, make sure to use a coaster for drinks and no dirty shoes please.

Her stitches would likely fall out in another week or so and likely then the two skeletons would let her start job hunting.

A new town, and she had clothing, and food, and a roof over her head.

It had finally hit her truly the prior night while watching movies with Papyrus and Gill, the two had been arguing over the battle tactics in the old movie, then noticed Cayden sitting there clutching the couch pillow and silently bawling her eyes out.

This caused a bit of panic until they realized she wasn't sad or hurting, she was just. Happy. So Paps decided to make brownies and she snuggled under a little pile of blankets and leaned against Gill. Who only shook his head and called her a dork.

Today she was reading a book on monster magic to see if it might help with this weird insistence that the two kept making that she had magic.

So fair, she couldn't seem to make it work. She only had their word on it that her magic seemed to respond to theirs.

Cayden sighed and held up her hand trying to see if she could… well do something! Currently the book she was on was discussing battle magics. So she was attempting to see if she could lift a bit of paper on the table.

After a few moments she gave up. This, was stupid. Humans didn't have magic and despite what they claimed she wasn't any different. No Hogwarts letter for her it seemed. She noticed when she gave up that Paps was watching her, and there was that odd glow about his eyes. Then he just went back to his cleaning.

What on earth was that about?

Gill came in, from the smell of him meant he must have just got off work. She wasn't sure where he worked really, other than when he came back from it he always smelled like chemicals. Hands in his pockets he crashed onto the couch next to her and stuck his own feet up on the coffee table, much to the un-amused noises of Papyrus, as Gill still had on his boots and recent rain meant they were muddy.

Cayden tried really hard not to smirk. She knew that Gill had to have done this on purpose just to annoy his uncle. Because over the past couple days he had regularly taken off his boots at the door and switched to house slippers. So he was just being a little shit.

"Take off those muddy boots now!" he demanded and with a smirk Gill kicked them off, only for them to land squarely in the middle of the table. Papyrus grabbed them, his rubber cleaning gloves covering up to his elbows, and marched them back to the door way, but Gill's slippers were flung cross the house to hit the younger skeleton in the middle of the face as the older one grumbled about some people's children and started cleaning up the mess Gill had tracked into the house.

Gill chuckled and put on the slippers. He glanced at Cayden "Making any headway?" he asked her seeing the book she was holding.

She put in her book mark and tossed it onto the coffee table "No" she said tiredly. "I don't really get it, and I think you guys have to be mistaken."

"And there lies your problem." He stated. Cayden blinked at him, "You don't believe that you have any power, so to prove yourself right you are not showing any. With humans I've noticed your determination can get in your ways just as much as it can help you."

"What's with all this talk of determination, I don't get it." She puffed out her cheeks childishly, and partly to amuse Gill who seemed to find her human habits endlessly entertaining. Well, bonus for having skin anyway! She was still trying to figure out how he and Paps did anything without lips or organs.

Cayden waited patiently while Gill put his thoughts in order "Well, I say picture it like those stories or news things you hear, about people surviving insane situations, buried in an avalanche or under whole buildings for days before help arrives."

She nods, there are lots of stories about people who survived insane odds in horrible situations.

"That is in part your determination, the moment any of those people give up, stop believing they can make it, they die. Now a monster, we have magic so as long as we still have power we can likely hold out, but the moment our power stops or it gets too much, psh! Dust."

"Ok, so… I don't see it how that involves the whole me having magic stuff."

"it has everything to do with it. See you have the belief that you don't have power, because its not immediately making itself known. Not taking into consideration that because you are human, the power you have may not be anything like the magics you read about in that book."

She blinked at him, "But... magic is magic right?"

"Sort of, there are old stories about some of the things humans did in the past, I don't know how much of that is real or changed over time. But we are still two very different species."

She thought about it "So, instead of battle magics and healing I could... have something else?"

He nodded sitting forward, elbows on his knees "Right, it could be similar or it could be something we monsters have never encountered before. Its like even among us monsters there are variations. Some monsters don't have a lot of magic, so they can only do little things or not much at all, some have loads of power but it could go one way or another. Like, well me and Paps. He is very good at healing, his battle magic is ok but nothing to write home about. My battle magic is very strong, but my healing? Yeah well, all I could manage when I first found you was to keep you from bleeding out. If Papyrus had found you, you likely wouldn't have needed a hospital at all!"

She sighed "So then, how do we find out what I can do if we don't know what I can do?"

"We experiment." He told her. "we try different things and you keep an open mind,"

"… so we apply science to magic."

"yep"

She snorted "Gods the fantasy writers of the world would flip their shit."

"Welcome to the new century. We monsters have been applying science to magic for centuries."

She sighed and looked at the book "so, what do I do to start?"

"To start you complete reading the books we gave you, understanding how monster magic works will help in that once we start experimenting you can start thinking in terms of what it is to be human, not monster, and start working from there." He told her.

She growled but before she could lean forward to grab the book he floated it to her hand, "Study up! You aren't going to escape that part."

Cayden blew a raspberry at him with amused him greatly. "All this studying isn't going to find me a job." She retorted.

"Well it will help you understand your neighbors and that sweet cheeks will help you find a job. "

"You got an answer for everything don't you?"

"Not everything, but I'm working on it." He responded.

She shook her head and grinned a him, "You are such a nerd."

"Am not!"

"Are so!"

Papyrus threw up his hands "If you two are going to devolve into childish behavior I'm going to send you both to your rooms."

"Yes Uncle" they responded in unison.

He shook his head "I'm making dinner, any requests."

"Spaghetti!" Cayden said

"NOT Spaghetti!" Gill shot in.

"Spaghetti it is!" Papyrus responded.

Cayden cheered and Gill groaned. "I'll make some garlic bread to go with it!" Cayden offered and Papyrus smiled hugely.

"Thank you Cayden" and the girl got up leaving the book behind to go help Papyrus cook.

Gill debated going down to the bar for a burger. Paps' spaghetti was good, but he was just tired of it having had it way too much over the years.

"Gill, come help set the table." Papyrus called out.

Gill sighed and got up "Fine," he said back and grumbled. Well, Cayden was happy, so, at least it was something, and her happiness made his Uncle happier.

It was this moment he realized that in the end, his Uncle just liked having someone take care of, and for the past few years Gill had been doing his best to be independent.

Gill paused and thought about it. Maybe, he should get his uncle a dog, or a cat. A pet would likely help him loads.

He'd do some research and see what he could find online.

But for the moment he had to go make sure that His Uncle and Cayden didn't end up cooking for a small army. He was not going to be stuck with leftover spaghetti for the next week!

End notes:

Not sure where this came from, just.. sorta popped up and now I have like three stories I am working on at the same time..

This is weird for me. LOL

Oh well. Blame youtube and all the Echotale stuff it kept playing while I was writing the other stories.

The Gaster/sans hybrid was too cute for a freakin' bag of bones. And Cayden just sorta came to mind whole cloth. Then Paps said I wasn't giving him enough attention in the other story so he should be in this one… and when I was done with this chapter I was like.. wow actually I kinda like this story, it's pretty good..

And now I was torn, to share this one along with the others or just keep it to myself until the other stories are done so not to seem like a total loser with nothing else to do with my time..

If you are reading this then you know what I chose.


	2. Chapter 2

Faded

Chapter 2

Notes: hey, thanks for coming back.

-0-

Gill paced. He couldn't sleep, at the moment every time he closed his eyes he could only see things that he never did, in places he'd never been.

So much snow.

And seeing his Uncle falling to pieces, turnig to dust.

Gill huffed air through his ribs before stepping outside for a smoke. He felt more than heard the soft steps of the human staying currently in his family home. He didn't turn as he hunted his pockets for his lighter.

A light click and he turned and saw Cayden, blanket wrapped around her figure holding out one of his spare lighters which she had flicked to life.

He paused a moment before leaning forward to light his smoke on it. Leaning back against the wall as he took the lighter from the human and pocket it in his pants. He took a long drag pulling the smoke up into his skull and letting it seep out. Arm half flung over his face to cover his eyes and the likely disturbing glow of his eyes.

"What you doing up sweet cheeks?" he asked her finally as the rustle of fabrics said she leaned up against the wall next to him.

"Can't sleep" she admitted "Bad dreams."

He gave a coughing snort sound and shook his head "Both of us it seems. "

She glanced up at him and he sighed sagging a bit "What sort of things do you dream about?" he asked her mildly curious, if only just to be polite and so she didn't ask him the same thing.

She huddled down into the blankets, her frizzy hair flopping over her face adding another layer of disappearing into herself.

He wondered if she was going to walk off before she said "I dreamed of my family before I ended up on the street. I.. was a foster kid." She said softly "I was in a good home, my foster parents cared about me, they weren't in it for the money, they really did care about us kids they took in. "

He watched her silently as he huffed on his smoke and listened to her talk. She was silent again for awhile. She pushed off the wall and walking towards the street a bit "I mean, yeah doesn't sound like a nightmare huh?" she said softly trying to smile it off, her hands pulling the blanket closer around herself as slowly her eyes fell back to the ground. "They died." Cayden continued, "they had gone out and I had decided to stay behind. I wanted a bit of alone time and finish some homework. I was working for a scholarship to college and I wanted everything to be.. perfect." She admitted. "And I keep seeing that night, over and over and over…" she turned but he caught the glint "If I had gone with them, would it have different? Maybe another person would have… been able to DO something. Anything." She pushed back her hair pulling a bit on it and nervously braiding bits of it, the curl tight enough to keep the braids and twists in place as she moved from one tangled lock of hair to another.

He was silent the whole time, letting her talk. This, was the first time hearing any of this. He knew nothing of his foundling other than what he'd gotten about what happened the night he found her. Stabbed by thieves who wanted what little she managed to get for herself.

He didn't realize she was holding such guilt. His eyes flashed in response, but he held back just letting her continue as she took shaking breaths. She was going beyond her dream now, a dream that should have been good but ended when she realized she was alone. "I was so close to 18, to graduation that no one gave me any options. I was cut loose. I finished school at least," but she never made it for her graduation, never got the whole cap and gown or the prom dress. "With all that happened I didn't even get the scholarship. I managed to find a job, but it didn't pay shit. I was living out of the car my foster parent's helped me get for awhile, then it got towed, expired tags and I couldn't afford to get new ones. After that, it was just.. like I faded away from being considered human anymore. No one saw me, I lost my job, I lost the last home I had, I was just, disappearing and the only offers that started to come were for things I didn't want to do. 20 dollars for a blow job, but you start working the streets like that and there are other things that happen to girls like me, either you get beaten up by some prick who doesn't pay you or you get picked up by a pimp and if you're lucky it's a good pimp, if you're not…" she shrugs "Or you get picked up by the cops and suddenly you have a record, or you fall into drugs because they are there and with nothing else to do, you do anything for a few moments of a non shitty time."

Cayden laughed a bit "and I avoided it all, I was 'better than' the average homeless person going to pull myself back off the street and be a real person again." She sounded almost like she was quoting something someone said to her, "Then I was stabbed for being lucky enough to have found a wad of twenties someone dropped on a street corner. " she laughed rubbing her face "I must sound pathetic."

Gill was quiet for a moment before he shifted and reached out, running boney fingers through her tight curls. "You lost your family, then struggled because the people who should have helped you failed you. It wasn't your fault."

She didn't fully respond and the way her hands came up to her face he knew she was not alright. He stamped out his cigarette and reached out pulling her back against himself. He was just bones, not likely as comfortable as a living breathing person would be, but he could offer this bit of comfort. Much as Papyrus use to comfort him when dreams of things that didn't happen, when he woke up convinced his uncle was dead and he was alone. Locked in a small room because it was the only place that stayed unmoving, the same…

"Come here sweet cheeks, it's not your fault. You're in a better place now." It was just softly spoken words but she seemed to find comfort in them. Relaxing as he leaned against the wall and rocked her gently. Humming a soft echoing tune, he remembered it being some sort of music box, but didn't know where he's seen it.

But he liked the tune and the slowing of her heartbeat, the calming of her breath and the way she sniffed and tucked her face down into his arms around her said she at least was calming again. After a few moments he paused and looked over her head suspiciously "Are you wiping your nose on my sleeves?" he demanded aghast.

She cracked up and he pulled back his arms "Ew, keep your gross human fluids away from my clothing!" she shook her head but went into the house coming back with a couple paper napkins she used to clear out her nose. Blowing his direction likely just to continue to gross him out.

"That has got to be the worst thing I have ever seen a human do." He said.

"Says he who loves fart jokes."

"Well that is funny. You push air out your back end." He said "Snot is not funny, its gross and sticky and gets everywhere."

"at least it doesn't smell!" she retorted.

He pointed at the hole in his face where there would be a nose if he was human and not a monster skeleton "Can't smell anyway." He shrugged.

"How do you guys even taste anything with no sense of smell?" she asked him

"Magic" he grinned at her and she tossed the napkin she'd been using at him. He dodged it "Ew!"

She laughed at him as he looked like such an affronted maiden. He glared at her then sighed and shook his head "Feeling better?" he asked her.

"A little," she admitted

"You should get back inside, get some sleep." He told her fishing around his pockets for another smoke.

He felt her walk up and lean against his back. Her forehead against his spine between the blades of his shoulders. "What about you?" she asked him. "You listened to me, what bugs you on a night like this?"

He paused before he lit the second smoke for the evening and stared up "Dreams of memories that aren't mine." He finally replied.

She was silent waiting patiently for him to continue. But he didn't. His eyes glowed in the darkness as he just remained silent. Wondering how long she would wait.

A slight increase of weight and a sound made him realize she had fallen to sleep, standing. He choked a snort and shifted to catch her and carry her back inside. Stubbing out his smoke on the wall of the house before pocketing the barely used cigarette, he could at least get a few more puffs off that one later.

His uncle would likely yell at him about snubbing out his smokes on the house again but he didn't really care. Gill sat on the couch Cayden resting a bit on his boney lap, he grabbed one of the couch pillows to at least give her something a little more comfortable. Settled he sighed and rested his chin in his palm elbow on the back of the couch staring out the window and waiting for the sun to rise.

-0-

Cayden was sitting on a cushion on the floor, pen scribbling over the job application. Papyrus had brought her a bunch of various applications to her when he came back from shopping. She'd been using Gill's laptop to fill out a few more online, well and cruising online websites as well. She had a plate of cookies Papyrus put down for her and couldn't help the bit of a smile at such a little thing.

Someone thinking of her, it had been so long really. She hummed happily to herself as she filled out for a job. She had a roof over her head, food in her belly, and soon she'd have a real job again. Maybe she could go to school?

Well she'd take one day at a time and see where it went. Cayden heard the door opened and looked up seeing Gill come into the house, he kicked off his boots at the door and got his slippers, something tucked under his arm a bag over his other shoulder. "Hey, sweet cheeks, is Paps around?' he asked her.

"He's in the kitchen," she told him and he nodded wandering that way.

Curiously she got up and went after.

"Hey, Uncle Papyrus, I got something for you." He said setting down the bag he'd held and Cayden could see the logo was from one of the local petshops.

Papyrus turned cheerfully around "Gill! Welcome ho-"and found a white puppy suddenly in his face.

"…. Er…" he blinked and Cayden watched the lights go off in his eyes for a moment, "… what's that?"

"A puppy." Gill responded.

"I can see that, but.. why?"

"Because I noticed you seem to be lonely, so I thought I'd get you someone to look after. "

Papyrus blinked at his nephew who set the puppy down and opened the bag, there were things in it like leash, some brochures for puppy classes, a few books, food, puppy pads. "According to the people I got this little guy from he's house broken." Gill said and set the items from the bag onto the table, there was a dog bowl set and Cayden was amused that Gill had picked bowls with skulls and bones on them.

"…" Papyrus stared at the puppy who looked back at him, it was small and white, almost like that annoying dog that had been all over the underground, but.. fluffier.

"… he's adorable.' Papyrus said his eyes huge and the smile that broke out cross his skull face could likely signal aircraft.

He took the puppy and got his cheek bone licked while he started talking excitedly about names, and of course this puppy had to be the best of pedigrees.

Gill shook his head but turned and poked Cayden "Lets leave the Great Papyrus to his new companion, I'm sure he will come up with something suitably flashy to name the little guy."

Cayden tilted her head "How big is that puppy going to get?" she asked him, because those paws where huge. Gill shrugged "Dunno,"

"… hopefully when the puppy gets to his chewing stage he won't chew on your guys."

The way Gill stopped, his eye glowing meant he actually hadn't thought about that. "er…." And he shuddered "That is a seriously morbid mind you have Cayden."

She just went back to her application filling. In retribution for putting horrible morbid thoughts of skeleton destruction by hyper puppy in his mind he stole half her cookies, which earned a pout. He chuckled and crashed on the couch fishing the remote out from the seat cushions to channel surf.

Not long later the puppy was running through the room and tripping over his own paws. Much to Gill's amusement, papyrus was encouraging the puppy to try harder, and informed them that dinner would be ready soon. Cayden finished up her applications and decided to stretch out on the floor and play with the puppy. Gill had settled on some evening sitcom and just watched it all with a calm serenity.

Yeah, this wasn't bad.

He could definitely get use to this.

-0-

End notes: shorter than the last chapter but this just seemed like a good spot to stop. We'll see where they go and what they do later.. Really need to figure out where this story is going…

I need to figure out what papyrus is going to name the new puppy


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